Liverpool draw deserving Leicester; Newcastle unable to fend off Burnley
Liverpool 2, Leicester City 2
Two second-half goals in two minutes by David Nugent and Jeffrey Schlupp gave bottom-place Leicester a Premier League point in a 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Thursday.
Steven Gerrard converted two controversial first-half penalties in the 17th and 40th minutes at Anfield as Brendan Rodgers' team took control of the game.
After the interval, Nugent got one back for Leicester in the 58th with an impressive strike from outside the box to the bottom left corner before Schlupp equalized 100 seconds later with a well-placed low shot.
Newcastle 3, Burnley 3
A late goal from George Boyd earned Burnley a point in an entertaining 3-3 draw with Newcastle in the Premier League on Thursday.
Steven Taylor put Newcastle ahead after only 15 minutes at St. James' Park but the lead was short lived as an own goal by Paul Dummett four minutes later hauled Burnley level.
Watched by interim Newcastle manager John Carver, midfielder Jack Colback restored the hosts' advantage with a superb long-range strike in the 26th.
Burnley started strongly in the second half, and Danny Ings leveled in the 66th with a glancing header from Michael Kightly's cross before Moussa Sissoko converted Ayoze Perez's delivery in the 78th to put Newcastle ahead for the third time.
But Boyd earned Burnley a crucial point in its fight for Premier League survival with a neat finish, scoring one-on-one against Jak Alnwick in the 86th.
West Ham 1, West Brom 1
New West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis was at Upton Park to see his side draw 1-1 with West Ham in the English Premier League on Thursday.
Within hours of signing a 2 1/2-year contract, Pulis watched West Brom concede early but reply before halftime, and generally have the better of the second half.
West Brom dropped one place to 17th in the standings, one point above the drop zone.
Diafra Sakho headed in his nine goal of the season off a cross from Aaron Creswell, for West Ham after 10 minutes.
Three minutes from the break, West Brom equalized when Saido Berahino played to Stephane Sessegnon, who took the ball to the edge of the box and fed it back to Berahino, who drove into the bottom right corner for his first goal since Oct. 25.
Aston Villa 0, Crystal Palace 0
Aston Villa and Crystal Palace played out a drab goalless draw in the English Premier League on Thursday.
Palace had the best chance of the match, early on, when Yannick Bolasie ran the length of the Villa half, had only goalkeeper Brad Guzan to beat, and hit the crossbar.
Villa improved one spot in the standings to 12th, while Palace remained in the bottom three.
Hull City 2, Everton 0
Goals from Ahmed Elmohamady and Nikica Jelavic ensured Everton's festive flop continued with a fourth straight Premier League defeat as the Toffees moved closer to the relegation zone with a 2-0 loss to strugglers Hull on Thursday.
Everton wanted to banish defeats by Southampton, Stoke and Newcastle but instead was brushed aside by opponents who had won just once in their last 12 matches, with a late red card for Antolin Alcaraz rubbing salt into the wounds.
Gareth Barry was exposed in an unfamiliar back-three position but an Everton side that welcomed back key men Phil Jagielka, Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith and Ross Barkley was second best at every turn.
A rare headed opener from Elmohamady in the 33rd was followed 10 minutes later by a neatly taken sixth goal of the season from Jelavic.
Queens Park Rangers 1, Swansea City 1
Swansea capped a pulsating game with an equalizer two minutes into injury time at Queen's Park Rangers for a 1-1 result in the English Premier League on Thursday.
Wilfried Bony, introduced by Swansea with 20 minutes to go, blasted past goalkeeper Rob Green to break QPR hearts.
Swansea had been threatening. A Bony free kick forced a fine save from Green, who then blocked Ki Sung-yeung. That rebound was cleared off the line. With four minutes to go, Swansea was reduced to 10 men when Wayne Routledge was sent off for an altercation with Karl Henry. But Green was finally beaten by Bony, for his ninth goal of the season.
Swansea remain ninth, while QPR, two points off the drop zone, still hasn't lost at home since mid-October.
QPR was fortunate not to lose Green early for handling outside his area, as he stopped a surge by Routledge.
Soon after, the hosts led as Leroy Fer collected the ball from 25 yards out and powered it in.
